


To Know

by BrynLara



Category: unOrdinary (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:08:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29907783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrynLara/pseuds/BrynLara
Summary: John was late home the day that his dad first came to visit. Very late.
Relationships: Blyke/Isen/Remi (unOrdinary), John Doe & Seraphina (unOrdinary), John Doe & William Doe, John Doe/Seraphina (unOrdinary), Seraphina & William Doe
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	1. Prelude

The shoulder of Seraphina’s blazer slipped down her arm as she walked outside between buildings to her next class. The courtyard was empty.

Her heart skipped a beat when her eyes landed on Arlo standing at the corner of one of the buildings.

_What was he doing here?_

She shrugged and prepared to ignore him as she walked past.

“Seraphina, do you have a minute-?” Arlo began as he waved her hand in greeting.

“No.” She took a 180 degree turn to avoid him. There were other ways to get to the library for her free. Just longer.

Arlo’s footsteps tapped against the concrete of the pavement behind her as she walked away whilst she tried to quicken her pace.

“Hey, wait!” Arlo stated. His hand reached to her shoulder, grabbing her shoulder with a tap and holding her back. “This is important!”

“Arlo.” She glanced back to him. “I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but it’s not funny. And I already told you a long time ago that I don’t want anything to do with you or other Royals.” She pushed his hand off her shoulder and turned to face him, so she was perpendicular to him. “There’s nothing I can do to help, especially now that I’m powerless.

“Please, just leave me alone.”

She turned away from him and continued to walk away. She began to format the route that she would take as her feet tapped along the pavement. Arlo didn’t follow her.

“John is Joker.”

Her eyes snapped open.

He knew that too. Of course, he did. John probably lied about Arlo beating him up.

“I need you to talk to him.”

“Arlo.” She took a deep breath. She knew John didn’t lie about Arlo taking him to Turf Wars. Even if it didn’t go how John said, she remembered John after that. “Why did you drag John in to this?”

Her hair flared around as she marched up to Arlo. “I’m sick of your games, Arlo! You should have kept John out of this. You’ve been trying to destroy our friendship as long as I can remember. I get it. You didn’t want me to hang out with him. You don’t like how I abandoned my title because of him. But even after everything you’ve done; after all your lies and manipulation; after getting me suspended; then dragging him out to a field and ambushing him; you assume that I would agree with whatever you want me to do!”

Arlo stared at her with wide eyes.

“He was just minding his own business! What did he do to you that you needed to drag him out to that field to ambush him? You’re the king! You were supposed to be above all that!”

He remained silently as she paused for a beat.

“You didn’t help John earlier. Why do you expect me to help you?”

She looked up to him, so there blue eyes met. He remained silent, a drop of sweat running down his jaw. He was thinking. She didn’t care.

She prepared to turn away from him when he began to speak again. She rested back on her heel and remained to look at him.

“You knew John had an ability.”


	2. Chapter 1

Seraphina scrolled through her phone with her legs tucked up, so her knees were near her chest and her feet rested on the edge of John’s pink sofa. She faced towards the coffee table.

The door clicked open and her eyes snapped towards the front door, where a black haired man was opening the door.

“You’re home early-” she started before she cut herself off.

“John?” The man’s smile fell as he squinted his eyes towards her. “Wait, you’re not John.”

“Neither are you,” she replied. Dumbfounded. This had to be a relative of John – he looked like him plus he was looking for John. She had no idea how he thought she was John.

The man scratched the back of his head in confusion.

“Oh, she stated in revelation. “You’re John’s dad! You two look so alike!”

“Ah,” he exclaimed. A smile came back to his face. “Purple hair! You must be Seraphina!”

Seraphina stood up, resting her phone on the seat of the sofa, and walked over to his dad. She shook his hand.

“It’s great to finally meet you!” he greeted.

“Likewise, Mister-”

“Please, call me William,” he replied.

“John talks about you quite a bit,” she responded.

“He does? Well, that’s kind of embarrassing.” He lightly laughed. Then he took in a breath and glanced around the room. “Where is he anyway?”

“Oh, school just let out, so he’s probably on his way back now,” she explained, looking up at Will.

“Huh?” Will looked at her in confusion. “How’d you get here so soon then?”

“I’m suspended.”

“Suspende-!” Will yelled. “How did you pull that off? What kinda kids is my son hanging out with?”

“I got caught reading a certain,” she explained calmly. “You probably know of it. It’s called ‘Unordinary’.”

“Uh…” Will hesitated, caught off guard. “I-Is that so? My bad.”

“It’s okay though. My suspension ends this Friday at 4pm,” she replied, waving her hand to wave it off. “I’ll move back to dorms by then.”

Will stared at her. The corners of his mouth were turned down.

“I didn’t realise you two were so close. He wouldn’t give that book away so easily, especially with it being banned and all…” He turned away from her to look at the side. “Sorry it got you in trouble.”

“Nah, it’s my fault I got caught.”

“But to be honest, I’m surprised Wellston didn’t end up kicking you out because of it,” he stated. “At least, that’s what I hear happen to kids who are discovered with it.”

Seraphina smirked. “They would never get rid of me.”

Will sighed. “I guess John really wasn’t kidding when he said you were very powerful.” Her eyes snapped up to him. “He doesn’t give out compliments often.” He smiled. “So, out of curiosity of the two of you, who is stronger?”

She brought her hand up to her mouth and laughed. “That’s a good one.”

“What do you mean?” Will asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Well, wouldn’t it be obvious who was stronger?” she questioned. “It’s kind of a big power gap.”

“Wait, what’s your level?” he asked, his eyebrows furrowed. What was he on about? Did John not tell him her level? She thought he would, especially with how much John apparently talked about her.

“8, why?” she responded slowly.

Will squinted. “John was 7.0 a few years ago.”

“Huh?” she exclaimed. John was a 7.0 a few years ago and now was a 1.0… What the fuck?

“I thought he was a cripple…” She trailed off. This didn’t make any sense. How did his level drop to 1.0 without some sort of injury happening? And Will would know if John had some sort of injury affecting his ability, right? John would have to be insane to lie about his level in this scenario.

Will stared at her. “I didn’t realise he was still having issues with his ability. I wouldn’t have sent him back to school if he couldn’t use it.”

“Did something happen to his ability?” she asked, tilting her head.

“He went through a traumatic experience involving his ability about two years ago,” he explained. “He didn’t use his ability afterwards, but I didn’t notice there was anything wrong with his ability in that time as he had no reason to activate it, so he didn’t.”

“Did he go to another school before Wellston.”

“Yes.” Will nervously glanced away from her. “Did he not tell you that/”

“He said he was home-schooled,” she responded.

“I guess he was for a few months before he started here,” Will replied.

A half-lie then. She guessed people could recognise him if he actually said the school. God tiers at that age were pretty famous among high school kids in that region.

“Did John really introduce himself as a cripple?” Will questioned.

“When he was asked, he said he didn’t have an ability,” she replied, slipping her hand down to her side. “He did get beat up for it.”

“I thought John would tell me if he was having such difficulties.” He sighed.

“What happened to him?” she asked. “So that John wouldn’t be able to use his ability.”

“I’m not the one who should tell you and that’s partially because John has never explained his side of the story to anyone,” he explained. “There’s a chance that John will never be comfortable telling anyone.”

She nervously smiled. So it was like how some people were mute without anything physically preventing them. Like that girl in the book she read recently.

The topic changed as John was till late and it wasn’t a comfortable topic for her. If John had an ability, but couldn’t use it then he may as well be a cripple. She would have liked to be told by John himself, but he probably didn’t want to explain it. She hadn’t told John everything, so why should she expect that same of John?

The door clicked open and John stepped in the room.

“Hello Sera, I’m back - what the f-?” John leant his back against the now shut door.

Will grimaced. “John! Welcome home!”

“D-Dad!” Sweat dribbled down his jaw. “What are you doing here?”

“What I can’t visit my own son?” Will raised an eyebrow at him.

“You could’ve at least told me ahead of time!” John exclaimed. He raised his hands out in front of him, palms up.

“Huh? How? You hung up on me last week.” Will frowned, his arms crossed over his chest. “And ignored all my calls afterwards.”

“Ooh… Busted!” Sera whispered, her hand cupped by her mouth to channel the whisper.

John glanced away from both of them and stayed silent. “Hey, Sera… Could you give us a minute?”

“Huh?” Will turned to face John as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

Seraphina nodded. “Looks like you need it.”

“Come on, Dad!” John pulled on his shoulder and Will followed him out the door in a huff.

Seraphina found her way back to the sofa and collapsed, head in hands. Tears rolled down her cheeks, but she wiped them away.

John really never told her that. Did he not trust her? She guessed maybe she wasn’t the most trustworthy person. John’s dad was still a cripple and she was a god tier from a god tier family. She knew John was raised by his father and his father only and that meant he came from a low tier background. Maybe he didn’t expect her to be sympathetic.

She pulled her knees close to her chest.

She wanted to show to John that she could be sympathetic and supportive. She knew she wasn’t the best at it; she pushed her emotions down until they burst out, but John had shown her that there were better ways and she wanted to do the same for him. However, she didn’t know where to start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter out. There isn't going to be a particular schedule for this fanfic.
> 
> This initially had a scene between John and Will, but I decided to make this fanfic solely from Seraphina point of view, although in third person. 
> 
> For some assumptions I've made in making this fanfic:
> 
> Mental health is more well known than in the webcomic, but no where near the level of understanding of the current day. Seraphina knows that there are people who go mute due to trauma.  
> Mental health is still not well understood by the general population, if known at all. Seraphina doesn't know anything more than trauma has negative effects on someone mentally and that there are mental illnesses. Also trauma in this context would be on the extreme end.  
> Thank you for reading. 


	3. Chapter 2

Seraphina laid in John’s bed after their game of poker.

_Everything makes sense now. I’ve always wondered how John ahd such a strong attitude. Not only does he actually have an ability, but he’s able to act confident like he did in the game of Poker. It’s applicable to real life._

_I shouldn’t put so much on his ability. Apparently, he couldn’t use it and I don’t know what his ability is anyway. It could be completely mental, like future prediction._

_That would certainly explain his confidence. Except, he couldn’t use his ability._

She turned on her side, pulling the covers of the bed closer to her.

_Something felt off though. Usually he’s so expressive and easy to understand. Yet, for some reason, I couldn’t see through him at all today. Instead, he was able to read me like a book. It’s strange._

* * *

Seraphina and Will walked out of the sandwich shop – both with a sandwich in hand.

“Hm… It’s not bad at all,” Will stated after chewing over a bite.

“Told you.” She smiled. “It’s the best sandwich place around. There’s another place called Woaba Boba. They sell some tasty drinks. I can take you there after.”

She took a bite of the sandwich. The lettuce crunched under her teeth.

“Sure,” Will replied. “Hey, thanks for showing me around town.”

“It’s fine. Not like I have anything better to do.”

“Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask.” She couldn’t ask about John. Will had already told her that he didn’t really know what happened. She’d just wait for John to tell her. “Your book… What was the inspiration behind it? It’s different to anything else I’ve read.”

“Ah, well there’s a question I never thought I’d get!” He smiled brightly.

“Oh?”

“You see…” He turned to make eye contact wit her. “When you’re bon completely powerless like me… Often times, the world feels unfair.”

That was another fact about John hiding his ability. His dad was a cripple. John knew what being a cripple was like.

“When I was young, I’d get picked on a lot. Needless to say, it wasn’t a good time. Bold then, I’d always think about that the world would be like if everyone were on equal footing. If everyone was powerless, what kind of structure would society follow? And then what if there existed someone all powerful who could see the strengths and weaknesses of everyone. If he wanted to minimsie suffering, how would he guide everyone. If I were in his shoes, I’d build a world that is open to everyone. Not one that favours the most powerful. That’s all.

“Hah, now that I think about it, it’s a bit childish that I based the protagonist on myself, but surprisingly, it resonated with a lot of people. I never expected it to blow up afters it’s publication. With all these superheroes and all…”

“So, the books was all about you,” she replied. “Then why did you dedicate it to John?”

Will did say that John was once a god tier. Maybe the main protagonist’s ability was inspired by John’s. Maybe John misplaced his trust in someone who took advantage of him; maybe that’s why he hadn’t trusted her enough to tell her about his ability even with a year’s friendship.

“Ah.” Will stopped walking to respond. “Well, John was a troubled kid back then. That’s for sure.”

“Really?”

So the traumatic incident happened before Unordinary was published. Which did make sense with the timeline from what John had already told her.

“Yeah, I guess to put it simply: he had a hard time dealing with certain realities. There wasn’t much I could do to make him listen, so I hope I could get through to him this way.”

_John? Troubled? Hm…_

Nothing made sense. It was like she was being told two stories, but yet they’re the same.

“But I’m relieved now.” Will smiled brightly and turned to her. Seraphina turned to him in shock. Wasn’t John struggling to use his ability? Why would he be relieved about that?

“I wasn’t too keen on letting him transfer so far away from home, but it seems like he’s doing okay here. Even if he won’t use his ability. Thanks for looking out for him, Sera.”

She smiled. “No need to thank me.” John was still a good friend even if he had lied to her. He hadn’t lied to specifically her after all. “He takes care of himself just fine.”

* * *

“Okay dad,” John said as they stood outside his house in the evening. “You sure you have everything?”

“Yup.” Will pulled his backpack on. “I packed lightly.”

“Come on,” John replied. “You flew all the way here to spend one night?”

“I’m working on a bunch of projects right now, so my editor won’t let me leave for long,” Will explained. “I just came to check up on you. Make sure you didn’t do anything too crazy.”

“…You still don’t trust-” John started.

“Nope.” Will through a finger gun to Sera that Sera responded with her own finger gun. “But I’m happy to know that I can always count on Sera!”

“B-but you’ve only known each other for a day…”

“I gotchu,” she responded, smirking at John’s shock. “It’s been a pleasure, William. Your story is incredibly inspiring and I think you’re very strong despite your situation. Please take care of yourself.”

“Aww, you kids are too much.” Will wrapped his arms around John and Sera’s shoulders. She smiled whilst John stared in shock. “Come here and gimme a hug before I leave!”

“Dad, stop it!” John shouted as Will pulled them close to him.

Then Will pulled John to the side to talk to him. Sera didn’t know what it was about, but she could guess. Maybe he was suggesting John to tell her about his ability. She hoped he was.

“Take care, kids!” will shouted. He waved them off and walked towards the yellow taxi. Seraphina waved back, although John didn’t.

Once his dad was in the taxi and it had driven out of sight, she turned to John with a smile.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” she stated as they walked inside. John didn’t answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shorter chapter, but it seemed right to end it here.
> 
> Next chapter should be that scene.


	4. Chapter 3

Seraphina stared at her magenta suitcase, arms crossed over her chest.

_Well, that’s pretty much everything. Now, all I’ve got to do it wait._

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked the time. _Another two hours to kill. Guess I’ll go for a walk._

She pulled her shoes on and swung a shoulder bag on before walking out the door and shut it behind her.

She walked past the sandwich shop she had been to with Will and into ‘Woaba Boaba’, which was next door. She ordered a drink for takeaway and picked it up. When she walked outside, there was a blonde woman sitting at one of the tables beneath an umbrella.

Sera walked past her, sipping on her drink, and made her way down the street.

“Excuse me, young lady!” a woman called out from behind her.

Seraphina turned to see a blonde lady in a burgundy formal shirt and a tight black skirt. Did she recognise her?

“Yes?” Sera responded.

“Sorry to bother you,” the woman started. Her read eyes looked at her in sombre. “It seems I left my phone at home. Would you mind telling me the time?”

“Oh yeah, sure,” she replied. She pulled out her phone.

“I’ve got this important presentation today!” the lady explained. “It’s unlike me to be so careless.”

“Hm.”

“Ah, maybe I’m too nervous. That’s why I forgot.”

Just as she clicked her phone on, something struck through her. A shiver struck in a stab.

She dropped her phone. As it hit the floor, the phone crashed into the pavement with a crack.

Seraphina knelt down to pick it up at the lady watched her.

“Oh gosh, it cracked!” she cried out. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, I think it still works.”

_What was that?_ She thought. Her hand picked up the phone.

“It’s two-thirty by the way,” she replied. “I should get this fized soon.”

“Phew! Thank goodness! I still have some time!” The lady held her hand up to her chest as she let out a breath. “Thank you so much.” The lady turned to start walking back towards where she came from and waved. “You’ve been a huge help!”

Seraphina stared as the lady bounced away.

_So excited… All I did was give her the time._

She continued to walk with her drink, but she couldn’t stop shaking. What had happened? It had stayed since that sensation had stabbed through her. It was strange.

A car honked behind her. Tires screeched. She glanced behind her to see a van driving towards her at full force. The van honked again.

Her ability flashed on and she barely ducked away, although she let go of her drink. The drink flew up in the air in its plastic cup and splashed against the ground just as the van screeched to stop just before it would have hit the wall.

Her heart raced. Her body continued to shake as she lifted her hands up to her face. Something wasn’t right. She was almost hit. She should have been able to avoid that easily, but for some reason, she felt slow.

“Holy shit!” a man cried out as he flung the passenger door of the van open and stepped out, slamming it shut behind him. He reached out to her but he avoided touching her. “Young lady, are you alright?” Another man and a woman came around from the back of the van, supposedly exiting from the other door. “We’re so sorry! My partner lost control of the wheel.”

“Hey!” the other man called out in offence. Presumably the driver. He was running over to her with the woman.

“Nice going dude,” he replied, arms crossed over his chest.

“Ahh, be quiet, you!” the driver responded.

“Are you injured at all, miss?” the woman asked her as the men argued.

“I’m fine. Your van didn’t touch me.” She wanted to be away from here. To be somewhere safe. “Drive safely next time.”

“You sure, you’re okay?” The woman frantically waved her hands about. “At least let us take you to a hospital. Just to double check.”

She snatched her wrist and proceeded to drag her towards the van even as Seraphina resisted, dragging her feet against the ground.

“Come with us!”

Seraphina looked at her hand as she attempted to tug it out of her grasp. Her fingers were wrapped white knuckled around her wrist.

“Hey… I’m-!”

This wasn’t going to work. She wasn’t going to let go.

“Stop it!” she shouted. The woman let go of her hand in shock. “I appreciate the thought, but I already said I’m fine. Leave me be.”

The woman looked at her in weariness. Except she looked past her. “There’s no need to be so aggressive. We just want to make sure you’re okay. At least let us buy you another drink.”

Suddenly, a needle stabbed into her neck. An arm wrapped around her neck, locking her in his grasp.

_What? What the hell is going on?_

A liquid was pushing into her through the needle.

She froze the area of the needle wound.

“GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!”

She kicked the man behind her away before rushing to the woman and kicking her and then the man and then the other man until she was just in front of the van. All in a snapshot of a second.

Her chest rose up and down heavily over and over again as her hands continued to shake. She touched her neck where the injection had gone, but nothing changed. It wouldn’t rewind!

She turned around and walked up to the man that was coughing as he sat up against the wall. He was the only one who wasn’t lying down from their injuries.

“What did you do to me?” she asked, her hand still by her neck. That man was the one who had injected the needle into her. Even though they appeared to be working together, if they weren’t he would know. “And what business do you have? Talk!”

“You’re in no position to make demands,” the man responded, although he was the one spluttering from her ability. It had to be something to do with the injection. “I suggest you come with us quietly, or we’ll have no choice but to harm you.”

There must be others.

“You must be joking,” she replied, making sure to flash her ability. “Don’t make me repeat myself-!”

Pain flashed up from her hip. She glanced behind her to see the woman stabbing a knife into her side, pushing it in deeper.

_These people… Are they really trying to kill me?!_

She elbowed the woman away from her and sent her flying into the wall. She cried out as she smashed into it before falling to the ground.

The two men were getting up with their own knife.

The van had blocked off the alleyway.

She grabbed the knife and grunted as she pulled it out of her side. Then she wielded it as she faced the men.

_Something in the needle is messing with my ability! That’s why I can’t rewind my wounds!_

Her vision was growing hazy.

_It looks like I can still freeze this part of my body._

The area around the stab wound went greyscale before she rushed towards the two men and slashed twice across each of their chests.

She turned around at standing only to see the injector jumping through a golden portal on the wall.

_Shit. Where was he going?_

“Hey! Get back here-!”

Her side unfroze.

She grabbed her side and dropped to the ground.

_What? The freeze had worn off on it’s own? Could it be? That injection did more damage than I thought! How did they get their hands on something like this? Who are these people? How many of them are there? Why are they after me? What do they want?_

Her vision went blurry again.

_I keep losing focus._

She staggered up to her feet, hand clasping her side.

_I gotta get out of here! They’ll be back and I can’t fight off another ambush like this!_

She rushed to John’s place through a sea of people who stared at her.

“See that girl over there?”

“Yeah, what’s wrong with her?”

“She’s limping.”

She continued to take each step forward even as it became harder and harder. Harder to take another step forward and harder to not fall to the ground.

_As soon as I get back, I’ll call Elaine and have her heal me._

“There’s a stain on her shirt.”

“Oh my gosh! Is that blood?”

“Should we call someone?”

_For now, I just have to be careful. Make sure I don’t fall for another trap. That ground… Who were they? Could they still be following me-?_

“Excuse me.” A hand collided with her shoulder. She glanced behind her, eyes glowing, to see a man. “You look like you’re having some trouble. I can help you out, if you’ll come with me-.”

She pulled her arm out before holding it by his neck.

“Huh?” he cried out, throwing his hands up.

“Get away!” she shouted.

“Uhh…”

“Step back!” she cried out as she wielded the knife in threat.

“That girl has a weapon!”

“Someone, do something!”

“Please don’t hurt me!” the original man stated. “W-What do you want?”

Before anything else could be said, she dashed off through a 2 metre space clear of people.

“Ah, get away from me!”

“What’s her problem?!”

“She’s crazy!”

She continued to run until she reached John’s house and pushed the door open and slammed it shut behind her before promptly collapsing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter has arrived. It follows closely to the original webcomic (unOrdinary). I don't want to keep every Sera scene if it will just follow closely to what originally happened, but this scene if important to include if it happens, especially with a Sera centred fic. I have left out three scenes so far. One was the poker scene, which I left out due to it just following closely. The bed scene afterwards shows what Sera's thoughts would have been throughout. There was a morning scene between Will and Sera, which was left out as I didn't see any point of it. Then, in the evening after Will left, there's a scene between John and Sera where John asks about how she felt about her suspension ending. I didn't know how to alter it with the information Sera knows without her telling John she knows or just following it exactly, which didn't seem realistic. Basically, similar events followed in that scene to the original webcomic.
> 
> I probably won't describe every scene that was left out, but some are still important to Sera as well as her relationship with John whilst not changing much from the original.
> 
> Also, I can't believe I managed to finish this chapter in one day. Literally, I spent several hours writing this instead of doing other work I was supposed to do. I'm almost scared that I'll do the same tomorrow whilst I still have work.
> 
> Thank you for reading this chapter. Please comment your thoughts on it.

**Author's Note:**

> New fanfiction for unOrdinary. I don't know how often I will update. It's probably going to be whilst I'm on hiatus for Golden Child. 
> 
> In the next chapter, there'll be some clarifications to some of the details that makes this work.


End file.
